Tearful Malala makes first trip to Pakistan since Taliban attack

Yahoo – AFP, Nasir Jaffry, March 29, 2018

Malala Yousafzai was overcome with emotion as she spoke about her return
to Pakistan at the Prime Minister's House (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

Islamabad (AFP) - Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai returned to Pakistan Thursday, saying tearfully that it was "a dream" to come home for the first time since she was airlifted to Britain after being shot in the head by a Taliban gunman more than five years ago.

The 20-year-old was overcome with emotion as she made a televised speech from the Prime Minister's House in Islamabad, breaking down in tears as she spoke of the beauty of her native Swat valley and how she imagines the streets of Pakistan from London and New York.

"Always it has been my dream that I should go to Pakistan and there, in peace and without any fear, I can move on streets, I can meet people, I can talk to people.

"And I think that it's my old home again... so it is actually happening, and I am grateful to all of you."

She added: "I don't cry much, I don't know why today."

The activist had arrived unannounced with her parents under tight security overnight. Pakistanis awakening to the news she was back in the country flooded social media with messages of welcome -- but others accused her of a conspiracy to foment dissent.

Malala is widely respected internationally as a global icon for girls' education, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

Residents of Swat said they were happy to see her return.

Profile of Malala Yousafzai, winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize 

(AFP Photo/AFP)

"Parents who were scared in 2012 are not scared in 2018, and Malala has played a great role in this," said Shaista Hakeem, a student at Swat University, who credited her academic career to Malala's influence over families in the region.

Malala became a global symbol for human rights after a gunman boarded her school van in Swat on October 9, 2012, asked "Who is Malala?" and shot her.

The Pakistani Taliban accused her of "anti-Islamic" activities and of "smearing" the militant group in statements released after the attack.

She was treated for her injuries in the British city of Birmingham, where she also completed her schooling.

The youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, she has continued to be a vocal advocate for girls' education while pursuing her studies at Oxford University.

'Charged' meeting with Pakistani feminists

Later Thursday Malala met with top feminists from across Pakistan at an event organised by Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who called participants two days earlier and told them to come to Islamabad -- but for security reasons refused to reveal why.

"She told me, 'It'll be the highlight of your year,'" said Digital Rights Foundation founder Nighat Dad, who attended the meeting. "If Sharmeen says that, you have to go."

Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 -- the youngest laureate ever -- 

with Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi (AFP Photo/Odd ANDERSEN)

The room, she said, was charged. "So much power and emotion and hope. She (Malala) said 'I'm so emotional, words can't express what I'm feeling right now'. It was the same for us... I think Malala came bringing hope."

Earlier, Malala met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and told the audience at her televised speech that the Malala Fund has already put more than $6 million into girls' education in the country.

Earlier this month, a school opened in Swat that was constructed and funded with part of her Nobel Prize money.

But among the messages of welcome are pockets of intense criticism from some Pakistanis, including hardline Islamists as well as members of the conservative middle class who support education for girls but object to airing the country's problems abroad.

"Dear Pakistanis! Malala is not your enemy. Your enemies were those monsters who shot her point blank on her way to school," wrote Twitter user Shahira Lashari.

Her schedule for the four-day trip is being closely guarded, with officials refusing to disclose her itinerary for security reasons.

Malala began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog -- under a pseudonym -- for the BBC's Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat, which they took over in 2007.

Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls were stopped from going to school.

But it was only after the shooting, and a subsequent near-miraculous recovery, that she became a truly global figure.

As for the militants who attacked her: the man suspected of actually firing the gun at Malala, named by officials as Ataullah Khan, has long been believed to be on the run in Afghanistan, along with Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah, who ordered the attack.

In 2015, it was reported that eight of 10 men who had been convicted over the attack had actually been cleared.

"I don't cry much, I don't know why today": Malala Yousafzai, 20, visits Pakistan for the first time since she escaped an assassination attempt by the Taliban over five years ago https://t.co/94x0vyJJmk

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 29, 2018

South Korea repatriates remains of 20 Chinese soldiers

Yahoo – AFP, March 28, 2018

Chinese ambassador to South Korea, Qiu Guohong, places a flag on a casket 

containing the remains of Chinese soldiers from the Korean War at Incheon 

airport (AFP Photo/KIM HONG-JI)

Seoul repatriated the remains of 20 Chinese soldiers killed during the Korean War on Wednesday, its defence ministry said, reflecting warming ties between the former Cold War foes.

South Korean soldiers handed over lacquered wooden caskets covered with red Chinese flags to Chinese honour guards at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, where they were loaded onto a Chinese air force cargo plane.

The transfer brought the total number of Chinese remains repatriated since a 2013 agreement to 589.

The repatriations took place ahead of China's annual Qingming -- tomb-sweeping -- festival, when many people visit and clean the graves of their ancestors.

An estimated three million Communist Chinese troops played a crucial role in support of the North during the 1950-53 conflict, known in China as the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

They saved the North from defeat as US-led United Nations forces drove Kim Il Sung's army back towards the Chinese frontier in late 1950, before the two sides ended up in a stalemate along what is now the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula.

Casualty figures remain disputed but Western estimates commonly cite a figure of 400,000 Chinese deaths, while Chinese sources give a death toll of about 180,000.

Tributes to 'inspiration' Hawking as curtain falls on Paralympics

Yahoo – AFP, Sam Reeves, Mar 18, 2018

Fireworks erupt during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter
Paralympic Games (AFP Photo/JUNG Yeon-Je)

Pyeongchang (South Korea) (AFP) - The Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics closed Sunday with a dazzling ceremony featuring light shows, dancing and music, as well as tributes to late wheelchair-bound British physicist Stephen Hawking as an "inspiration".

Nine days of sporting action ended earlier in the day with a flurry of events, including victory for the United States in a hard-fought sledge hockey final, helping them to top the medals table with 36 overall.

North Korea's athletes, who made their country's Winter Paralympics debut in Pyeongchang, were absent from the closing ceremony after heading home early, but it was a minor sticking point after the rapid inter-Korean thaw of recent weeks.

With thousands packing out the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons used his closing address to pay tribute to Hawking, who died last week aged 76.

The scientist is seen as an inspiration by Paralympians. He never let his acute physical disability stop him from pursuing his dreams, and is fondly remembered for opening the London 2012 Games.

Parsons hailed him as "a genius of a man, a pioneer and inspiration to us all".

Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 

Winter Paralympic Games (AFP Photo/JUNG Yeon-Je)

"While Hawking tested the limits of his imagination, Paralympians, you have once again pushed the boundaries of human endeavour," he said.

"Your logic-defying performances have focused the world not on what holds you back, but on what motivates you and pushes you forward."

Hawking developed a form of motor neurone disease in his 20s that left him confined to a wheelchair, almost completely paralysed and only able to speak through a voice synthesiser.

But his disability did not stop him pursuing his ambition of unlocking the secrets of the Universe, and his best-selling book "A Brief History of Time" made him a household name.

In a memorable speech at the opening of the 2012 Games, Hawking urged Paralympians to "look up at the stars and not down at your feet".

Triumph over adversity

Athletes carried their countries' flags into the stadium at the closing ceremony but North Korea's was brought in by a Games volunteer, after Pyongyang's delegation headed home a few days ago.

Pyongyang sent two novice sit-skiers to the Games and they finished at or near the back of their two events, but were still welcomed by South Korean fans delighted at the latest sign of detente on the Korean peninsula.

USA's Declan Farmer (L) and Canada's Greg Westlake (R) fight for the puck 

in the ice hockey gold medal game (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-je)

The rapprochement began at last month's Winter Olympics, when the North sent 22 athletes to the Games and the two Koreas marched under a united flag at the opening ceremony.

The North's presence at the Paralympics was low-key compared to the Olympics -- as well as leaving before the end, the North did not march with the South at the opening.

Sunday's closing ceremony included traditional Korean music and dancing, and also modern rock and pop, with K-pop star Ailee among the performers.

There were also disabled performers, including a dancer with a hearing impairment and a wheelchair-bound dancer.

Towards the end of the ceremony, the Paralympic flag was hauled down and handed to the mayor of Beijing -- which will host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

In a fitting finale to the Games' high-octane sporting action, the USA earlier Sunday beat Canada 2-1 with a dramatic goal in overtime to defend their Paralympic sledge hockey title.

It brought Team USA's gold medal haul to 13.

Russian athletes -- competing as neutrals after their country was banned due to a doping scandal -- picked up eight gold medals, second-highest after the USA and tied with Canada.

The Winter Paralympics broke records for ticket sales, which topped 340,000, as well as for the number of athletes competing at 567.

There were numerous tales of triumph over adversity.

Dutch snowboarder Bibian Mentel-Spee won two gold medals despite having had cancer surgery twice in recent months. American skier Oksana Masters -- born with multiple birth defects due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster -- also won double gold.

British scientist Stephen Hawking's 1988 book "A Brief History of Time" became
 an unlikely worldwide bestseller and cemented his superstar status, dedicated his
life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe

Related Article:

British scientist Stephen Hawking dead at age 76

Rohingya returnees won't be kept in camps 'forever': Myanmar official

Yahoo – AFP, Joe Freeman, March 17, 2018

Myanmar's government has built transit camps in Rakhine but so far not a single
Rohingya has crossed back from Bangladesh (AFP Photo/Cape Diamond)

Maungdaw (Myanmar) (AFP) - A Myanmar official in Rakhine state said Saturday that Rohingya refugees who return will not be held in newly-built camps "forever," as concerns mount over a vexed repatriation process and efforts to reshape communities in the crisis-hit state.

Ye Htut, the administrator of Maungdaw district, was speaking to reporters on a government-chaperoned trip to northern Rakhine, the site of a military crackdown last August that has emptied the region of some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims.

Myanmar has been trumpeting its readiness to take back refugees, who are massed across the border in Bangladesh, and built reception centres and transit camps for returnees.

But not a single Rohingya has crossed the border, with the United Nations sounding the alarm that Myanmar must do far more to ensure the safety of a minority that was targeted in an army-led campaign the UN branded "ethnic cleansing".

Rights groups have also raised concerns about how Buddhist-majority Myanmar is reconstructing Rakhine in the Rohingyas' absence, with authorities bulldozing over their burned villages and building new settlements and security posts.

An AFP reporter witnessed a flurry of construction in the region on Saturday, with work crews erecting prefabricated houses along a road leading to Maungdaw town.

Speaking to reporters from his office, Ye Htut insisted that any Rohingya returnees would eventually be resettled close to their original villages after staying in transit camps.

"I can't ask them to live (at the camps) forever...We don't have any vision or intention to keep them long," he said.

The government "will return them back to their native villages or close by," he added.

But a visit to one of the resettlement sites intended for Rohingya, whom a government official referred to only as Muslims, showed slow progress.

Only three squat houses with concrete and brick foundations had been built in a field covered in churned up dirt and tread marks from heavy machinery.

Charred ruins

The site, which lies two hours north of Maungdaw town by car, was chosen for its proximity to the original village, which lay in charred ruins within view.

Myint Khaing, Maungdaw township administrator, said about 100 families were supposed to live in the new site and that it would be completed in two months.

Asked why its construction was not as far along as a settlement 30 minutes away intended for an internally displaced ethnic minority called the Mro, he suggested priority was given to communities that had not fled to Bangladesh.

"They didn't run away," he said.

Myanmar has vehemently denied accusations that is trying to erase the Rohingya's ties to Rakhine, insisting the army crackdown was a targeted assault on Muslim militants.

But the UN and rights groups have pointed to the country's long history of marginalising and persecuting the Muslim minority, who are denied citizenship and loathed by the Buddhist majority.

More than 100,000 are still languishing in a squalid refugee camp in southern Rakhine state after being displaced by communal violence in 2012.

On Friday the head of the UN's refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, said the conditions for the Rohingyas' safe return were not yet in place and that discussions with Myanmar on repatriation "have been pretty basic, not very frequent (and) not very advanced".

Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a deal that was supposed to see repatriation begin in January.

But Myanmar has so far agreed to accept only 374 of 8,000 refugees whose names have been put forward by Dhaka for the initial batch of returnees.

Related Article:

'Wake up' and stop Rohingya abuses: Nobel laureates to Suu Kyi

With #Rohingya gone, Myanmar's ethnic #Rakhine seek Muslim-free 'buffer zone' pic.twitter.com/gGE8y5N1dU

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 16, 2018

VIDEO: Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi pulls out of a public speech and question-and-answer session in Sydney because she is "not feeling well" pic.twitter.com/kXfYZ15oz7

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 19, 2018

Air India to fly over Saudi airspace to Israel

Yahoo – AFP,  March 16, 2018

The new route was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
last July (AFP Photo/INDRANIL MUKHERJEE)

New Delhi (AFP) - India's state-run carrier Air India said Friday it will fly over Saudi airspace to Tel Aviv, a move that ends a decades-long Saudi ban on the use of its airspace for flights to Israel.

The decision comes at a time of growing ties between India and several Middle Eastern countries, and after Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at a diplomatic realignment in the region earlier this month.

"The Air India flights to Israel will start from March 22. The flights will take around seven hours and five minutes, and fly over... Saudi airspace," airline spokesman Praveen Bhatnagar told AFP.

The new route was announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last July, with Netanyahu first suggesting in January the route could pass over Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh has no official ties with Tel Aviv, with Israel's national carrier El Al currently taking a detour over the Red Sea on its India service to avoid Saudi and Iranian airspace.

Netanyahu told reporters in Washington earlier this month that Air India had reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia for the route.

The airline's spokesman at the time confirmed the launch schedule for a thrice-a-week service from New Delhi to Tel Aviv but couldn't confirm the exact route.

'Common challenges'

Flying over Saudi Arabia significantly shortens the flight time over the proposed route.

Riyadh has maintained public silence about suggestions the kingdom has covert relations with Israel, but Netanyahu said earlier this month in Washington that Israel and the Arab states have "never been closer".

"Most of the states in our region know -- they know very well, believe me -- that Israel is not their enemy, but their indispensible ally in confronting our common challenges and seizing our common opportunities," Netanyahu also said at a public event in the US capital.

Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel last year, and has pushed for investment, technology cooperation and closer defence ties between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia and its immediate neighbourhood is also strategically important for India as the major source of the country's energy imports.

The wider region also hosts millions of Indian migrant workers who send billions of dollars in remittances each year.

Japan minister admits files altered in scandal dogging Abe

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko HASEGAWA, 12 March 2018

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso are under pressure
over the scandal

Japan's finance minister admitted Monday that official papers related to a favouritism scandal dogging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been altered, but denied any plans to step down over the row.

Abe's government has faced mounting pressure in recent days over the 2016 sale of state-owned land to one of his supporters at a price well below market value.

Speaking to reporters outside his office, the prime minister "deeply" apologised to the public for this "incident that could shake confidence" in government operations.

"I take people's criticism sincerely and want Finance Minister (Taro) Aso to be responsible for pushing ahead with an investigation to fully reveal why this kind of incident happened," added Abe.

Earlier Monday, Aso told a hastily arranged press conference: "Changing official documents is very grave and extremely regrettable and I deeply apologise."

"What is important is that these things don't happen again," Aso added.

The scandal first emerged early last year, but resurfaced after the revelation that official documents related to the sale had been changed.

Versions of the original and the doctored documents published Monday by opposition lawmakers appeared to show Abe's name had been scrubbed, along with that of his wife Akie, and Aso.

Aso blamed the alterations on "some staff members" at the ministry, and said he had only learned about them on Sunday.

But he batted off suggestions he might resign over the scandal.

"I am not thinking about that at all," he said, adding he did not believe the alterations were intended to protect Abe and his wife.

Abe called on his finance minister and close ally to make his "utmost efforts to rebuild the organisation (finance ministry) so that this never happens again".

Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso (C) has dismissed suggestions that he might

resign over the scandal

'Debased democracy'

The opposition immediately went on the attack over the affair. "What became clear is that they debased democracy," by lying to parliament, said opposition lawmaker Renho, who uses one name.

Opposition politicians have alleged that the buyer of the land -- a right-wing operator of private schools -- was able to clinch the sale at such a favourable price because of his ties to the Abe family.

The operator had named Akie Abe the honorary principal of the school he was planning to build on the government plot.

Aso said the documents were doctored to be "coherent" with a speech made in parliament by the head of the tax agency Nobuhisa Sagawa, who stepped down on Friday over the scandal.

Sagawa was head of the finance ministry department that oversaw the land deal, before being promoted last year to tax agency chief.

"It is possible that Sagawa ordered the alterations," the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said, citing government sources.

Adding to the pressure, a finance ministry official linked to the scandal was found dead on Friday, although it is not clear if the reported suicide is linked to the affair.

Abe has consistently denied any wrongdoing and vowed to resign if he was found to be involved in the land deal.

But a poll released published Monday in the Yomiuri Shimbun showed his support dropping by six percentage points from last month to 48 percent, the first reading under 50 percent since he won re-election in October.

Eight out of 10 voters said the government was not responding appropriately to the allegations, according to the survey conducted over the weekend among 1,036 voters.

The allegations have also paralysed parliament in recent days, with some opposition lawmakers boycotting debates.

Abe is facing re-election as head of his ruling LDP party in September, which would put him on course to be Japan's longest-serving premier.

Some analysts have said the scandal could harm his chances although no serious challenger to his rule have yet put themselves forward.

US vows no let-up on N. Korea ahead of historic Trump-Kim summit

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew BEATTY, 9 March 2018

The White House confirmed President Donald Trump would accept the invitation
to meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un "at a place and time to be determined"

The United States vowed Friday there would be no let-up of pressure on North Korea until it takes concrete steps to end its nuclear program after Donald Trump agreed to meet Kim Jong Un in a stunning diplomatic gamble.

A day after the bombshell announcement that the US and North Korean leaders would meet before the end of May, Trump's Vice President Mike Pence said Washington's efforts to isolate Kim had been vindicated.

While there was no reaction from Kim's regime, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said news of the summit -- announced by his national security advisor on a visit to Washington -- was "like a miracle".

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the two leaders to begin talks as "soon as possible" and praised Trump's "positive aspiration" during a phone call with his US counterpart, according to state media.

China has long been North Korea's most important ally but has been on board with the program of sanctions agreed at the UN.

The announcement triggered a rise in global stock markets while world leaders voiced hope that the summit would deflate tensions that had been building dramatically in recent months.

While some observers questioned the US president's wisdom in granting Kim a long-standing wish for a summit after only agreeing a temporary halt to its nuclear tests, others said his gamble could be a game changer.

Trump has previously ridiculed Kim as "Little Rocket Man", slapping wideranging bilateral sanctions on the Pyongyang regime and also leading a drive for international sanctions through the UN.

"North Korea's desire to meet to discuss denuclearization -- while suspending all ballistic missile and nuclear testing -- is evidence that President Trump's strategy to isolate the Kim regime is working," Pence said in a statement.

Chronology of diplomatic tensions between the US and North Korea

The North Koreans "are coming to the table despite the United States making zero concessions and, in close coordination with our allies, we have consistently increased the pressure on the Kim regime.

"Our resolve is undeterred and our policy remains the same: all sanctions remain in place and the maximum pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes concrete, permanent, and verifiable steps to end their nuclear program."

Standing in front of the White House on Thursday night, Moon's National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong announced the first ever meeting between a US president and a North Korean leader would take place by May.

Chung had recently returned from Pyongyang, where he met Kim who, he said, "expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible."

Sanctions remain

In a notably restrained tweet, Trump hailed "great progress" in the push to persuade Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program, adding that "sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among the world leaders to hail the announcement as a "glimmer of hope," saying North Korea's nuclear drive "has been a source of great concern for all of us."

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the UN's nuclear watchdog, voiced hope that the summit would produce "concrete progress" and a resumption of nuclear inspections which have been suspended for years.

"The IAEA is closely following the recent developments related to the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the Vienna-based UN body said in a statement.

Pyongyang's long race to develop a nuclear weapon capable has proved a problem for successive US administrations.

But the alarm bells have been ringing even louder since last July when Pyongyang conducted two intercontinental ballistic missile tests, declaring that the entire United States was now within its range.

'Fire and Fury'

Trump then threatened "fire and fury" if Pyongyang continued to threaten the United States only for North Korea to carry out its sixth nuclear test while Kim derided Trump as "mentally deranged".

The United States and North Korea were foes throughout the Cold War and fought on opposite sides of a bloody war in the 1950s.

In the last two decades, they have been engaged in what is perhaps the world's most dangerous nuclear standoff, with 30,000 US military personnel stationed just over the border in the South.

On multiple occasions, Kim's father Kim Jong Il dangled the prospect of talks and denuclearization as a means of buying time, easing sanctions and dividing South Korea from its allies.

Trump agrees to historic first meeting with North Korea's Kim - a stunning development in high-stakes nuclear standoff https://t.co/x66wEpGZL9 pic.twitter.com/BNy1lga88a

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 9, 2018

Related Article:

"Quantum Patterns" - Jan 23 - 24, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

"... The Darkness Can't See Beyond Itself

I want to give you proof yet again of something unusual and very telling of the way low vibration works. Within the first channel of the year [2016], I spoke about the young North Korean leader. I'm going to do it again. I'm going to do it again as a profound example of how low consciousness cannot see above itself. That means that it can only work with what it sees and knows. As powerful, as smart, as intellectual as it thinks it is, it can't get out of its own circle.

The former leader of North Korea was a classic egotist. When he died, his son took over and could do anything he wanted. This boy had watched his father for decades and knew he would take over someday. Naturally, he inherited the attributes his father taught him of self-importance, and he also became egotistically driven to the max. When he took power, he had the choice to make changes that would allow him to be even greater than his father. He wanted something that would elevate his name and his position to the highest egotistic place imaginable. His father was the model, and now he could do anything he wanted to be even more famous. What happened is classic. He completely missed the greatest opportunity that any man has had to become the most famous and beloved person on the earth. The idea never occurred to him. Even though he had been educated in the western world, he missed it.

If he had considered the high road and included the earth instead of a restricted population of his own country, he could have been the most famous and beloved leader on Earth, all of his life. At the moment he took over, all he had to do was to think beyond his circle. He was in the unique position to be a "wild card" and do something amazing - unify North an South Korea, drop the zone of death that was between those countries, bring families together after generations, stop nuclear programs that he really never needed other than to look important and, thereby, give his people abundance, food for all and peace in his region. All of Korea would worship him and the earth would give a sigh of relief in thanks for his wisdom and courage.

He would have received standing ovations upon entering the United Nations great room and they would bow before him and give him the highest peace prizes. He would have his ego stroked and stroked and stroked and stroked and be far greater than his father had ever been. But it never occurred to him. Instead, he perpetuated the dark box he inherited, and now he presides over the lowest energy possible, representing the most dangerous renegade energy on the planet. At the expense of keeping his people poor and impoverished and creating instability in his region, he gets to be a powerful and famous person for a moment in time from a small population. He will not last long. He can't see that what he is doing has no support within the majority of the planet's population, and he will lose everything. Isn't it interesting how strong the circle is that keeps a low vibration low. All of this is beginning to change, dear ones. If you examine individual people and the way they act, you're going to see this coming. You're going to recognize it.  ..."

South Korean envoys in historic trip to North, meet Kim

Yahoo – AFP, Sunghee Hwang, March 5, 2018

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has sought to use the Pyeongchang
Games to open dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang (AFP Photo)

Seoul (AFP) - The most senior South Koreans to travel to North Korea for more than a decade met leader Kim Jong Un Monday, a Seoul official said, the latest step in an Olympics-driven rapprochement on the divided peninsula.

The delegation, representing the South's President Moon Jae-in, is pushing for talks between the nuclear-armed regime and the United States, after Kim sent his sister Kim Yo Jong to the Winter Games in the South.

"Chairman Kim Jong Un is currently hosting a dinner for the special envoys," Moon's spokesman told a press briefing Monday evening, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim Yo Jong's trip was the first visit to the South by a member of the North's ruling dynasty since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and her appearance at the Games' opening ceremony -- where athletes from the two Koreas marched together -- made global headlines.

Moon has sought to use the Pyeongchang Games to open dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang in hopes of easing a nuclear standoff that has heightened fears over global security.

In Seoul, Kim Yo Jong invited him to a summit in Pyongyang on her brother's behalf. But Moon did not immediately accept, saying the right conditions were necessary first.

Before leaving for Pyongyang, the South's national security advisor Chung Eui-yong said: "We plan to hold in-depth discussions for ways to continue not only inter-Korean talks but dialogue between North Korea and the international community including the United States."

It is a challenging task -- in defiance of UN sanctions, the isolated and impoverished North last year staged its most powerful nuclear test and test-fired several missiles, some of them capable of reaching the US mainland.

US President Donald Trump dubbed Kim "Little Rocket Man" and boasted about the size of his own nuclear button, while the North Korean leader called Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard".

They traded threats of war and sent tensions soaring before a thaw in the run-up to the Winter Olympics.

"We will deliver President Moon's firm resolution to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and to create sincere and lasting peace," delegation leader Chung told reporters.

Chung is one of five senior officials who flew to Pyongyang on Monday.

It was the first ministerial-level South Korean visit to the North since December 2007, when Seoul's then-intelligence chief travelled to Pyongyang.

Conservative Lee Myung-bak was elected the South's president the following day and took a markedly harder line on relations with the North.

Washington connection

Monday's delegation included spy chief Suh Hoon, who is a veteran in dealings with the North. He is known to have been deeply involved in negotiations to arrange two previous inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency also announced their impending visit in a one-paragraph dispatch.

The 10-member group -- five top delegates and five supporting officials -- will return to Seoul on Tuesday.

Other members include Suh's deputy at the National Intelligence Service as well as Chun Hae-sung, the vice minister in Seoul's unification ministry which handles cross-border affairs.

The delegation will fly to the US on Wednesday to explain the result of the two-day trip to officials in Washington, according to the South's presidential office.

Moon, who advocates dialogue with the North's nuclear-armed regime, said last week that Washington needs to "lower the threshold for talks" with Pyongyang.

But the US has ruled out any possibility of talks before the North takes steps towards denuclearisation, and imposed what Trump hailed as the "toughest ever" sanctions on Kim's regime late last month.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with South Korean chief delegate Chung Eui-yong in Pyongyang pic.twitter.com/w0FtgJd7zA

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 6, 2018

China urges North and South Korea to "seize the current opportunity" to denuclearise peninsula at historic summit https://t.co/2P8JD15lKT pic.twitter.com/3Y0FQNcAOG

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 7, 2018